Mark Wall (Labour) | Oireachtas source

I thank all our guests for coming in. This is very important to many people. CE schemes are at the heart of the communities I represent. Ms Rohan said correctly that without them the grass would not be cut, the lines would not be there and the sports clubs Deputy Paul Donnelly mentioned would not be able to continue, basically. We saw during Covid that there was so much pressure on sports clubs, and there is still so much pressure on demand for CE schemes. I know personally how important CE schemes are. As I said, I am involved in a number of community groups.

I have a couple of questions. I wish to go back to youth unemployment, which we raised the last day with the witnesses' colleagues in SIPTU. Mr. Mahon spoke about getting young people involved in CE schemes. He also spoke about training with ETBs, as did the Chairman and Deputy Paul Donnelly. Where are the witnesses with that? What is their relationship with ETBs? Is there something else we can do with the ETBs? Mr. Mahon is correct that they put on a certain number of courses. The cost of the courses he spoke about may be prohibitive. What else could we do to encourage the establishment of more courses and to tackle youth unemployment? As we on this committee all know, that is growing, unfortunately, and is something we need to tackle to encourage more people into these courses. We must get more young people involved in their communities. That is a huge problem for communities with which I am involved. As I said here the last day, we are now all of a certain age at which we are looking to the next generation, and perhaps the generation after that, to get involved in communities. That is what we want to do. We want them to get involved with their sports clubs and through communities. Is there something missing there that the witnesses have not touched on already from the point of view of the ETBs?

Do the witnesses have any figures as to how many people on their schemes are over 55, which is a focus of the committee? As public representatives, we receive regular calls from CE supervisors about CE schemes for people who are 60, 62 or 63, asking for extensions. It seems to be a genuine attempt to ensure that those people can continue the work they know well such that that community group and that community sponsor maintains everything they know because that person has the experience. Do the witnesses know anything about that?

As for the material budgets, perhaps the following comes under Mr. Kearney's remit. I get calls all the time from sponsors now who have to fundraise and who are getting letters of demand from CE schemes because they simply do not have the material budgets. We know the cost of petrol, for example. We are coming back to the grass cutting. The cost of petrol is just going up and up. Sponsors are getting more and more letters of demand that the CE scheme will not be able to continue if more money is not paid. That is an issue. Perhaps the witnesses might comment on the demands of sponsors.

That CE scheme supervisors have not got a wage increase since 2008 is wrong. We have all supported them with their pensions. It is to be hoped that can be implemented as quickly as possible.